Masterful Indeed

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I was going to tap out a glowing review of Terence Davies' Of Time and the City, a spiritual lament about the director's hometown of Liverpool. It's a sublime marriage of poetry, archival footage, snippy social criticism, and nostalgia for a lost and irretrievable past. It hits you gently and yet powerfully. Especially if you have a feeling for the fraying of social cohesion and family structure that has happened everywhere since the '50s.

Davies -- short, bespectacled, pinkish complexion, gleaming white hair, traditional black tuxedo -- took a bow before last night's 10 pm showing at the Salle du Soixantieme. One of his producer pals said on the mike, "He's back...and he's beautiful."

And like I said, I was going to write about it...but the line for the 11:30 showing of Clint Eastwood's Changeling/The Exchange -- 85 minutes from now! -- is already getting pretty long so I'd better get down there. Why don't people just hang back and wait until 10:45 or so to line up? Who wants to wait in line this long?

comment #1

MAGGA says ...

For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would ever feel nostalgic about the fifties. As a surt of cultural short-hand, sure, but it seems the great thing people miss from those days were the lack of choice. After all one would usually get the job that was expected of you, get married young, have kids, have a wife at home/husband away all the time, complete paranoia about communists infiltrating societies (not talking about the US alone here), far less sexual liberation, strict rules for behaviour based on gender, less possibility of traveling. It seems to me the only remarkable thing was that WW2 was five years in the past when the decade started, so people's troubles were put somewhat into perspective.

comment #2

Mgmax says ...

Magga, no matter how shitty a time was, if you were 18 then and 50 now, you'll feel nostalgia for it. See: Stalin era, Russians....

comment #3

Mgmax says ...

Of course, the irony is that the virus that destroyed the supposed social cohesion of the 50s had its first major outbreak in Liverpool, and spread worldwide from there...

comment #4

calraigh says ...

Well I'm hoping you get time to tap out that glowing review at some stage Wells, I can't wait to hear about it. Christ Magga, I'm 29 and female and I'm nostalgic for the 50's sometimes.Doesn't make me a masochist...

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